Angeal's Student
by pixeled
Summary: Rated T for language. "The biggest secret of all was that, in fact, Angeal was a pushover."


"**Angeal's Student"**

Most people thought 1st class SOLDIER operatives didn't shit, eat, sweat, bleed, or fuck. In fact, if it wasn't for Angeal being a 1st Class, most people might have also believed that more mako makes you prettier. It was a not-so-well-kept bit of gossip that Shinra's famous mako engineering scientists created SOLDIER with their own miserable looks in mind; they were trying to live vicariously through gorgeous young men because they were flagging and sagging, though they often cried that time is man's greatest enemy—that they were once, in fact, "pimps" in their time. This "fact" is universally agreed upon to be dubious, though it is also universally agreed that Shinra's science department has always had its fair share of MILFs.

So . . . Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal: duck, duck . . . goose? Perhaps people thought Angeal's manliness was too powerful to tame with prettifying mako and so he was thus termed the unwieldy one of the three, just like his sword. People often pointed out their differences in the aesthetics of their swords, in fact. There was Sephiroth's Masamune, for one. The Masamune was a legendary sword presented to the young General by the president of the Shinra Power Electric Company at the age of twelve; It was rumored to have been created by a swordsman who was long dead and who believed that it was the pinnacle of perfection in that it chose its wielder. The folding of the metal and the general sleek style was rumored to have come from the Far West, where Wutai resides. As for Genesis, his sword was fashioned for him by a famous sword-maker in the Southern part of the world, on the Condor Mountain. This sword-maker was a man who died just shortly afterward crying to reporters that it had been his "finest work", and indeed it had been, because not only did it have the usual Materia slots, but it was also inlaid with a powerful elemental fire. It quickly became known as "The Flaming Rapier", which, in fact, has always been a bit unfortunate for its wielder—Genesis was known as the "Flaming SOLDIER" thenceforth. And as for Angeal's sword . . . well, one heard about it quite enough, especially in the SOLDIER division, but also quite often in the Shinra Guard. Angeal's sword was called the "Buster", quite literally because Angeal busted his ass carrying it to Midgar. The thing just looked downright inconvenient. Anyone who had seen it up close would be able to report that it was as tall as a fairly large man and as wide as a man's torso. So much steel was employed in its creation that Angeal's father went into a vast amount of debt and fell prey to fatigue. Angeal is often, to this day, seen on Shinra grounds yelling "the next time you think you want to quit something, you think about how my father worked himself to death to get me here! You think about how lucky you are because you're still alive! You're not dead, so you haven't worked hard enough, have you?! You hear me?!" To this day he can make a group of cadets wet their uniforms in unison.

Although Angeal was a tough son of a bitch and looked it, he was rapidly becoming known as the big pushover of SOLDIER. But it wasn't always that way. He was tough on cadets because they needed to be broken down to be built back up again, and once SOLDIER began to grow the people of Midgar began to know things about the three SOLDIER 1st Class men—things previously unknown and previously unattainable because Angeal was _that_ good at scaring the living snot out of them and keeping them away.

The biggest secret of all was that, in fact, Angeal was a pushover. And kind-hearted. And gardened in his spare time above the plate. So by the time he became the spiritual leader of SOLDIER it wasn't such a surprise that Angeal took a 3rd Class under his wing to train exclusively. People thought it was strange only because before this time no one in SOLDIER had ever been trained exclusively, least of all by one of the three famous 1st Classes. People, quite frankly, saw it as a bit random, but then that sort of fit in with what they thought of Angeal—that he was a capricious and unwieldy sort of man.

When asked by TV reporters why he had decided to take this 3rd Class as a student, he spouted the usual thing about discipline, honor, and dreams, and added to it the near-magic of what it might mean for morale for the home troops. The war with Wutai had been at the heart of most Midgarians at the time, and here was one of their best at home training a boy who was a plebe of a SOLDIER, but again Angeal touted his ideas of boosting the morale of the men at the home base, and so reporters shook Angeal's hand and thanked him for his time.

During that time, Sephiroth and Genesis were mostly away leading young men into war. Many lives were lost, though Sephiroth was often in heavy negotiation with the men in power of Wutai. But he was sometimes carted back to Midgar when things had quieted down for a bit, for there were plenty of talented men in the art of warfare and rhetoric. None of them were as artful as Sephiroth, but the president dictated that their General be sent home from time to time.

At the heart of the silver-haired man's troubles lay stubborn leaders who refused to make peace, and so it was unexpected that when he came home Midgar's furious chatter involved Angeal and a 3rd Class boy rather than the negotiations going on in Wutai, and that was indeed troubling.

General Sephiroth was curious, and so as soon as his private jet landed in Midgar he was straight into his office where he told his secretary to hold all his calls for the time being. He needed to research this 3rd Class and see what all the fuss was about.

"Tell me what it is that you think you're doing," Sephiroth said, striding into Angeal's office without so much as a knock on the door or a buzz-in from the secretary. Angeal's brows lifted as he saw his friend and colleague enter.

"My job," Angeal responded casually. "What are you doing back?"

"I have leave for the next few days. I expected to be chased by reporters the whole time, but it looks as if you have taken care of them for me," Sephiroth said, crossing his arms.

"Ah, that," Angeal said, licking his finger before turning a page of the report he was reading.

The office was silent for a moment, but then there was the sound of a file hitting Angeal's desk, the wisps of his hair scattering away from his chiseled face with the accompanying created wind. Angeal looked up at his friend and then down at the file, staring into the face of his student.

"What is that?" Sephiroth asked, narrowing his eyes.

"He's my student," Angeal said, moving the file aside.

"Yes," Sephiroth said, cocking a delicate silver brow, "so I see. But why?"

"Morale has been low," Angeal shrugged, "and I just want our boys to feel like they can get a piece of glory."

"I hear you're calling him a 'restless puppy'," Sephiroth said, eyeing Angeal. "And teaching him to plant things. Have you lost your edge?"

"Oh no," Angeal said, licking his finger to turn another page of his report. "He's in the labs at the moment. Our first training session was an eye-opener for him. Don't expect to see him until tonight."

But Sephiroth was still stuck on the whole "restless puppy" thing.

"I hear he's charmed his way into your heart already," Sephiroth said, looking quite cross. Angeal smiled up at his friend.

"I want you to meet him," he said.

"I hear his smile is what did it," Sephiroth drawled. He was not amused.

"Jealousy _does_ have green eyes," Angeal mused, tapping his lips with his index finger and trying to hide a smile.

"Cute," Sephiroth huffed. "You will introduce me to this 'student' of yours. I swear, Angeal, Genesis and I are off fighting and here you are fawning for a child."

"The picture doesn't do him justice," Angeal smirked.

"I'm sure," Sephiroth sighed.

And after that night, after meeting Zack Fair the 3rd Class student, Sephiroth understood why Angeal had made such a big fuss over the kid. Both he and Angeal had agreed that once Genesis came back he too would be charmed by Zack Fair's smiling face. He was indeed as restless as a puppy and as adorable as one too.

Most people thought that 1st Class SOLDIER operatives didn't shit, eat, sweat, bleed, or fuck, but they'd be dead wrong, because on the night Angeal took General Sephiroth to meet Zack Fair there was just no way that the look the two 1st Class SOLDIER operatives had given each other was anything but "mischevious".

_Author's Note: This was written for a friend on LJ. Hope you liked it!_


End file.
